1913 Fashion House Models, Paris Racecourse Photo by Seeberger Freres ART DECO For Sale

PHOTOGRAPHER: Seeberger Freres (see bios below)PROCESS: Gelatin SilverSIZE: 5.5\" x 8.75\"CONDITION: See photosSHIPPING: Shipping cost is non-negotiable, please consider it when offerding/buying.COMBINED SHIPPING: Yes, I do combine shipping. Additional shipping per item is 20% of the lower shipping cost [For example, if 2 items are purchased that have a $30 and $10 shipping cost each, the combined shipping cost becomes $32 for the 2 items]. If offerding/buying more than 1 item, please wait for an invoice with combined shipping before Frères was a French photographic studio and family enterprise active in Paris from the early twentieth century until 1977, best known for fashion, society and documentary photography. The first generation consisted of the brothers Jules Séeberger (1872–1932), Louis Séeberger (1874–1946) and Henri Séeberger (1876–1956), the sons of a Bavarian father who had settled in France and a mother from Lyon. The brothers established a family photographic workshop in 1906 and formally organized the business under the name Séeberger Frères in 1909, operating from 33 rue de Chabrol in Paris.Before specializing in fashion, the Séebergers photographed Paris and other parts of France for postcards and illustrated publications. Their early subjects included old Montmartre, Parisian streets and gardens, working people, children, provincial towns, the Normandy coast and the French Riviera. Their combination of documentary observation and careful composition created an extensive visual record of French urban and social life during the Belle Époque.The studio entered fashion photography in 1909 after receiving a commission from Caroline de Broutelles, director of the magazine La Mode pratique. Instead of concentrating exclusively on studio portraits, the Séebergers photographed fashionable men and women at racecourses and other public gathering places where new styles were displayed. Longchamp, Auteuil and Chantilly became especially important locations for their work. These photographs recorded members of fashionable society, performers, courtesans, professional models and clients wearing the latest designs in comparatively natural surroundings.Fashion reportage soon became the studio\'s principal specialty. Séeberger photographs appeared in publications including La Mode pratique, Fémina, Vogue, Vu and Le Jardin des Modes, and the photographers also worked for French couture houses and foreign distributors. Their pictures documented designs by leading couturiers such as Jeanne Lanvin, Jean Patou and Madeleine Vionnet. After the First World War they expanded their coverage to fashionable resorts including Cannes, Deauville, Biarritz and Saint-Moritz, photographing clothing in the social environments in which it was actually worn.The Séebergers\' photographs are particularly valuable to fashion historians because they combine fashion photography with social reportage. Their images show not only individual garments but also accessories, hairstyles, automobiles, racecourse customs, resorts and the social settings associated with French luxury culture. Among the prominent figures appearing in their work were entertainers, actors, artists and members of international high society.The family business continued into a second generation. Louis Séeberger\'s sons Jean Séeberger (1910–1979) and Albert Séeberger (1914–1999) joined the studio in 1927 and 1930 respectively and eventually succeeded the original brothers. They retained the Séeberger Frères name and continued producing fashion, portrait, society and commercial photography after the Second World War. The studio remained active until 1977.A substantial archive of Séeberger Frères photographs and studio records is preserved by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The institution has catalogued the studio\'s activity from 1909 to 1977 and presented a major exhibition, Les Séeberger, photographes de l\'élégance, in 2006. Their surviving work is regarded as an important record of French fashion and society across much of the twentieth century, particularly for the period from 1909 to the eve of the Second World War.